egkb

Hi There
 
Really like the contrasting timbers Mark, nice work, as a newbie I wouldn't be familiar with the 'original' model you Bashed from, but what you have there looks fab. Particularly like the deck reinforcing around the winch, cool touch... only wish I had your ability and I understand when things get 'Fuzzy' only too well (I have an 80% finished Heller model of the French Le Superbe that was 'captured' (ahem, ahem) by the Royal Navy and bashed to become HMS Superb 74, with all RN differences for circa 1803..yup that got really fuzzy before I picked a date, there were subtle rigging detail changes around that time. My Masting & Rigging of English Men of War book got a serious looking at)
Wishing you the very best
 
Eamonn

Since this was a working boat it spent a good chunk of time moored to a dock while it loaded or unloaded, so……it needed a robust way to tie up, usually to docks below the height of its bulwarks.  I had noticed the use of cavels on some wooden period ships I have visited and thought this the perfect solution.  A quick check of the Pride of Baltimore II reinforced this by seeing she had them.
 
These were pretty straight forward but I believe really added some pop to the hull.  I decided to use a block of walnut for the hull pass through and basswood (my go to wood) for the interior tie up post.  Since the bulwark was veneer overlaid on the inner sub-layer the walnut really provided a consistent clean look that I liked.  For location, I drilled through the inner bulwark at the center point between frames for accuracy.  A little wood removal with a sharp knife / files and lots of test fittings and this part was good to go.  The inner cavel post was pretty straight forward (don’t forget the matching center hole to the hull) and glued on.  All in all, this was less than an hour of work.  A total of four were put on the Lady Anne (two each side).

This is my build of the Lady Anne (named after the wife – bonus points).  If you squint real hard and tilt your head you may recognize the hull as the AL Harvey.  Other than that it has been a whole lot of kit bashing.  This model was given to me by someone who had just glued the bulkheads on and decided this just wasn’t the thing for him.  Over time (as a break from the Druid) I have done a little bit here and a little there.  I planked the hull as a standard model hull to demonstrate to someone else it wasn’t that hard, so there are planks that taper to points and no real attempt to mimic real practice.  I had ‘assumed’ it would be built out of the box and continued in that direction.  Then things started to get fuzzy. 
I knew that Harvey was a fictitious ship and things really started to bug me about how realistic it was.  The deck furnishings especially just seemed haphazard and in some cases wrong.  This is where I stepped out of the box and this fast build took a hard right into kit bashing.  Over the years I had made a point of keeping pictures of ideas on real ships and models of things I really liked and I started to look at what I could add / substitute in this build.  I started perusing books about clippers, especially ‘The American-Built Clipper Ship, 1850-1856’ by Crothers to look at deck arrangements used by Clippers (and believe it or not, I did find those outhouses shown on the Harvey.  I don’t like them, but I found them).
 



 
I cleared the decks (literally), made paper cutouts of potential deck furniture, and spent a lot of time pondering the imponderables.  A big decision was to rig her as the Pride of Baltimore II was rigged, a true Baltimore Clipper.  This defined the needed pinrails and deck tie downs required (as well as block counts which were a LOT more than the kit supplied).  I moved the pumps aft to where they could actually do some good.  The forward windlass was replaced with a windlass actually capable of bringing in an anchor.  The capstan was moved to a position where it could actually be used, a below deck access was added and on, and on, and on.  The last addition I added are cavels to allow easier docking.  To retain its original heritage I created a 1:48th scale workman that I named sailor Harvey to verify heights as I proceeded.
 



 
The deck currently has a configuration that I am happy with.  The last original piece is the aft deckhouse and it just seems out of proportion for sailor Harvey to navigate through so that will probably be scrapped and an alternate built in its place.  Oh, I retained the cannons since my son insists that cannons are cool and I couldn’t possibly take them off.  I did, however, modify their locations, retain only six (continental breeched) and will probably have two of those stowed parallel to the bulkhead.
 


 
As time allows I will post past pictures of the process I used to build various pieces and the rationale used for including them (which may just be I liked the look).  I am really trying to focus on the Druid and get’r done, but this ship will be warming up.  As usual, any comments are welcome.
 

 
Mark

AUGUST 21
 
 
1781
HMS Minorca (18), Lt. Lawson, scuttled to block the entrance to the harbour at Port Mahon.
1797
HMS Penguin (16) captured two French brigs.
1801
British cutting-out operations at Corunna. Boats of HMS Boadicea (38), Cptn. Charles Rowley, HMS Fisgard(44), Capt. T. Byam Martin, and HMS Diamond (38), Cptn. Griffith, attacked enemy vessels in Corunna harbour and brought out Neptuno (20) a gunboat (1) and a merchant ship.
British cutting-out operations at Etaples. Boats of HMS Hound and HMS Mallard (12) set fire to a vessel loaded with pitch and tar which had been wrecked near Etaples some time previously. Six flat boats then came out of St. Valery and they forced them ashore. where they lay hauled up on the beach. 
Boats of HMS Jamaica (26), Cptn. Jonas Rose, HMS Gannet (16), Isaac Cotgrave, HMS Hound (14), HMSTigress (12), W. Aldus, and HMS Mallard (12) cut out 3 flat boats also near Etaples.
1810
Boats of HMS Sirius (36), Capt. Samuel Pym, cut out a French prize, the Windham, a British East Indiaman.
1813
HMS Laurestinus (24) wrecked North end of the Island of Abaco, Halifax.

I thought you might like to see a few more pictures of the (slow) progress on my Sherbourne. The pictures were actually taken about a month ago, and my wife and I are now at our cottage, so work won't resume on her until the autumn.
 
I've now finished the shrouds apart from the ratlines, which I'm leaving off for access until later, and have in place some of the running rigging, including the burtons, top rope, boom topping lift, and throat and peak halliards for the mainsail. The latter is bent to the gaff and brailed into the mast:
 

 

At last a Spanish ship!
 
Here I am being from Madrid close to the MNM and I am building one from Her Majesty Service ship... Shame on me!
 
Here´s a link with some photos of the San Felipe completed http://www.modelismonaval.com/galeria/category/75-san-felipe-de-san-martin and here is the homepage of the museum. You can sail on it in english and you can ask for plans. Send me a PM if you´re interested on and I´ll explain you how to get them. Link to the museum: http://www.armada.mde.es/ArmadaPortal/page/Portal/ArmadaEspannola/ciencia_museo/prefLang_en/
 
And here´s a link with a video (youtube) with a very good music from Master & Comander:
 
Good Good Luck with this endevour!
 
Daniel.

Not much progress to report, but I think I know how I am going to handle the repair.
 
As you can see below, the jibboom has broken off cleanly at the mast cap. 
 

 
As a result, all of the fore stays etc. are now rather slack.
 

 
I am going to replace the jibboom and all of the fore stays - a couple were not particularly great anyway.  When i do that, I should be able to get a nice uniform tension on them all, and also increase slightly the tension on the back stays (rear most shrouds?)

Buildlog will follow.

Arrrgh, just wrote a bunch of stuff and lost it with an accidental 'page back' hit ... time to start previewing at the end of each sentence, lol.
 
Ok, let's try this again.  What I have discovered in my limited experience with waxing lines for rigging is as follows;
 
Thicker lines - best if the wax is melted into it as the run through method won't infuse the 'core' of the line with wax, thus the 'stiffening effect' won't be as pronounced.  By melting the wax into the core of the line (and squeeging the excess as much as possible) it becomes 'stiffer' so that you can achieve the 'taut line' effect without having to put a lot of tension on the line.
 
Thin lines - work well with the run through method.  You can also use the melted wax method but here is where getting rid of the excess becomes more important as thin lines show the excess more (flakiness, lumps, etc.).  One technique I borrowed from Batik is to have an iron set to low and a bunch of newsprint sheets.  Run the line between newsprint sheets under the iron, the weight of the iron should be enough to squeeze excess meltwax from the line and it soaks into the newsprint to prevent it from 'reapplying' itself to the line.
 
Synthetic lines - I've used both methods on nylon lines and found that the same principles apply, the thicker the line the better to use the meltwax method.  Another thing I did with the thin lines to 'seal' the wax was run the waxed line through a cloth pad but I applied more force and ran it fast to generate friction heat.
 
The type of wax is important too.  I avoid Parrafin wax (basic candle wax) because it has a low melt point, is very 'grainy' when cooled and is usually mixed in huge industrial vats with all kinds of chemicals added.  Often with cheap Parrafin you're find a high glycerin content or the traces of perfumes from a previous batch.  
 
Beeswax is my preferred fave because of it's 'natural' origins (not Organic, if anyone tries to sell you 'Organic' honey or beeswax at a marked up price laugh at them ... bees don't create 'organic' stuff by definition).  Beeswax also has a higher melting temperature and is finely grained, which makes it more supple when cool.  Plus it smells good (aromatherapy) and it has a nice colour which tints white lines ever so slightly.
 
Microcrystalline wax (a.k.a. Jeweller's wax) is also a preferred one for me.  It comes in white or dark blue - Don't use the dark blue stuff as it is formulated for sculpting jewellery 'castings'.  Microcrystalline wax has a high melting point, is (as the name implies) very fine grained and it's supple when cool, like beeswax.  This kind of wax is often used in very fine Batik work.
 
So to summarize, I used both methods and found them to be good - once I figured out the specifics.
 
Hope this is of some help.